Home Entertainment
FRIDAY THE 13TH - DVD Review
By Greg Kaczynski |
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 WARNING: This review is full of spoilers. If you haven’t seen Friday the 13th yet and don’t want anything ruined, you have been warned.
The Friday the 13th reboot has just arrived on DVD (Warner Home Video, MSRP: $28.98) and oh, what a dilemma. Here fans have a fantastic re-imagining of a beloved franchise, and even though it’s done by some of the same idiots who handled the awful Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, they get it right. There are all of the elements that make a great Friday the 13th movie: sex, blood, creative kills and dumb teenagers. Plus, we get a lot of new things that truly enrich the experience: a smart Jason (with clearer and more complex motivation than ever), a re-enactment of his mother’s death and an actual plot! The DVD, however, makes me wonder about Warner Home Video’s decision makers.
Like The Dark Knight DVD released last year (also by Warner Home Video), this DVD is bare bones; no director commentary and very few extras. But, first things first.
The Friday the 13th reboot, on its own, is a fantastic movie for fans. Not only do we get the origin story in the first minutes of the film, but we see the eventual transition from sack-head Jason to hockey-mask Jason in the same movie. We get to experience a Jason who is more than just a tank, lumbering from victim to victim--we finally get a sense of who he is, why he does what he does and that, yes, he is a human being. On top of all of this greatness, we do not get a castrated, PG-13, over-marketed pile of junk like what’s been glutting the horror genre over the last decade or so. This is hardcore.
 Is it gratuitous? Of course. This is a very good thing for fans.
The DVD, however, is a tricky thing to consider. Soon after the theatrical release of the film, one of the producers, Brad Fuller, was quoted as saying the DVD would have an additional 20 minutes of footage, and these additional minutes were supposedly going to dramatically change the film. The theatrical release was 97 minutes, and the extended “Killer Cut” on DVD is a mere 106. Not even 10 new minutes have been added.
This is not to say that those things that were added are worthless. The Trent (Travis Van Winkle)/Bree (Julianna Guill) sex scene is now ridiculously long, which I’m sure many will appreciate; the deaths are generally more gruesome (especially Trent’s, which fans will also surely appreciate); and we see more dead bodies as the movie comes to a close.
 There are some quality changes as well that do affect the story, if only slightly, but effectively. Of particular interest is the so-called “machete scene.” Once viewers realize that Whitney (Amanda Righetti) is still alive and imprisoned by Jason (Derek Mears), we get this short but fantastic scene of Jason sharpening his machete. While doing so, we get the briefest of glimpses into what’s going on in his homicidal brain. There’s a flashback to that fateful night his mother was decapitated, then Jason seems to actually be emotionally affected by it. How great is that? Not only do we get the first glimpse into Jason’s thoughts ever, he then throws a tantrum. It’s such a simple, yet great scene that really does add a lot to his actions and his character.
Another (questionable) change is when Whitney escapes and makes it all the way to the house before Jason recaptures her. The problem here is that Jason seems to be in multiple places at once and the timeline doesn’t totally jive with this new edit.
Here’s the real issue, though: it wasn’t 20 minutes, and there’s no real change in the plot, fine, whatever. But look, the theatrical release was rated R. This extended “Killer Cut” is nine minutes longer, but it’s also rated R. What does this mean? I’ll tell you what it looks like: it looks like the studio deliberately cut footage out of the theatrical release to then throw back onto the DVD as bait for people to buy this special extended cut. This also makes me wonder if there really is an additional 11 minutes out there that will eventually be thrown onto another edition. I call shenanigans.
More irritatingly, the DVD is frontloaded with several Blu-ray adverts, and the Blu-ray version of Friday the 13th (MSRP: $35.99) has many more special features than the DVD. It seems pretty clear that Warner Bros. has no qualms about leaving its DVD customers behind.
 The extras on the DVD aren’t that great, to be honest. As mentioned before, there is no commentary track (inexcusable in this day and age), and the only original featurette is an 11-minute making-of piece called “The Rebirth of Jason Voorhees.” It’s your basic collection of sound bites from the cast and crew. They briefly cover the process of writing the film. They also discuss the supernatural/natural tendencies of Jason, and address one of the most pressing questions: “How does he get around the forest so quickly?” Also, they actually get into the psychology of Jason and what his motives are. They discuss the development of Jason as a physical character and what they wanted to see with this new version of Jason, including the decision to use the sack and the mask for his face. It’s brief, but there is some good stuff in here.
In addition to the making-of featurette, there are also three “slashed” scenes totaling 8 minutes, one of which is showcased in the making-of doc and the other two which just aren’t very interesting.
So what audiences have is a below-par DVD release of a great reboot. Will there be an additional edition released? There’s been no official word, and with it being a Friday the 13th movie, I wouldn’t hold my breath. What I would wait for, though, is the inevitable sale where you can snag this “Killer Cut” for under 10 bucks.
Friday the 13th is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
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